Countless trips and vacations have been spoiled by motion sickness. Motion sickness symptoms range from the distracting, such as eyestrain and blurred vision, to the debilitating, such as nausea, depression and apathy. Moreover, motion sickness generally does not go away immediately upon removal of the stimulus making the person sick, but rather takes some time to subside These symptoms often cause inconvenience and discomfort, and may in some instances cause more serious issues. Imagine for example a motion-sick soldier who must function effectively in combat immediately after being transported by airplane, ship or helicopter.
Motion sickness most notably occurs in automobiles, trucks, military vehicles, ships, airplanes, and other motion sources. Some people get motion-sickness every time they ride in a car, on a plane or in a ship. But interestingly, motion sickness is not limited to situations where there is actual motion. For example, one may get motion sickness while stationary if exposed to large format immersive displays such as commonly employed by simulators, virtual environments (VE), high-definition television, military displays and other display systems. Motion sickness due to simulator and virtual-environment exposure is commonly referred to as “cybersickness.” One may also suffer motion sickness if exposed to a large format display that, itself, is on a moving platform. This can occur for example with a training simulation on a ship, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operator control station on an aircraft, or possibly even under some circumstances while watching an immersive television display in a moving car, plane or train.
Cybersickness occurs in a high percentage of individuals receiving virtual training. Given sufficient stimulation, motion sickness can be induced in all individuals with intact senses of balance. Virtual-environment exposure aftereffects include eyestrain, dizziness, and nausea, which can last more than an hour after a training session. In a significant percentage of the population, symptoms can persist for more than six hours post session. Prolonged exposure to virtual-environment simulations can lead to distinct physiological changes, such as in the resting point of accommodation or recalibration of perception-action couplings.
Common approaches for reducing or relieving motion sickness consist primarily of medications and alternative health products. Examples include Dramamine, Scopolamine, herbal remedies, and pressure bands worn on the wrist. Most medications for motion sickness have undesirable side effects such as drowsiness, and the efficacy of alternative health products has not been proven in clinical trials. Additionally, to be effective, medications such as Dramamine usually require ingesting before the onset of motion-sickness. This may not help a passenger who unexpectedly gets motion-sickness.
Discord of spatial information from the principal spatial senses (vestibular system, eyes, and non-vestibular proprioceptors) has been shown to be among the primary causes of motion sickness. This condition of sensory discordance, where one's spatial sensors are in conflict, is commonly experienced when the inertial environment is not correctly reflected by the visual environment. The visual stimuli do not match the proprioceptive receptors, including the vestibular system—or in simpler terms, the motion the body senses does not match the motion seen by the eyes.
The discontinuity between actual motion and perceived motion in a virtual environment has also been shown to be among the contributing factors to cybersickness. This decoupling can arise from a mismatch between visually presented scene motion and physically experienced motion. New research indicates that an environment that has a display on an independent motion platform is even more provocative in causing motion sickness.
Some in the past have tried to use a sensor and a display to reduce motion sickness.
One approach uses an “artificial labyrinth” displayed on a head-mounted display in conjunction with motion sensors mounted to the head and body to alleviate motion sickness. In this approach, motion sensors or a video recorder are mounted the user's head to provide body, head and inertial environment motion signals indicating the user's true orientation and motion correspond to the user's proprioceptive senses. A series of visual cues, such as lines that behave similar to attitude indicators found in airplanes, are presented to the user in the form of “artificial labyrinth” visual stimuli displayed on the head-mounted display (HMD). For example, the user is presented with a line that relates to the orientation of his or her head and body and also to the inertial platform on which the user is stationed. Another approach presents a stabilized image to the user in place of the actual image one would normally perceive. This similar to how motion picture cameras works. The motion sensor data or video images are averaged to provide a smooth stabilized cue or image, but the stabilized image is not aligned to the actual inertial environment. Thus the presented image is stabilized but it is unrelated to motion in the physical world. Such a stabilized but uncoupled image may actually abet the onset of motion sickness rather than abating it. Exposure to an uncoupled visual environment and inertial environment may in some cases produce significantly more severe sickness than exposure to just the virtual environment or just the motion platform.
Another approach uses a sensor and a sensor converter to translate inertial motions into perceptual indications, namely:                1) audible tones of varying frequency and volume,        2) mechanical vibrations or forces along different parts of the body, or        3) visual shapes of different color and size.        
With this approach, one will often find the sensors are head mounted, object mounted, or in the case of a virtual environment, information is extracted directly from the simulation. Based on this sensed motion, the user would receive audio and/or mechanical and/or visual stimulation.
For audio feedback, the user would receive a different frequency tone that would vary in spectral emphasis based on the motion sensed. However, we have found no human subject research in the open, scientific literature that supports this approach for alleviating motion sickness. The working theory, apparently, is that one may introduce different audible tones and volumes that counteract mechanisms in the vestibular system that lead to motion sickness. It is unclear what these mechanisms may be or how they would be controlled.
For mechanical feedback, the prior approach envisions a device such as a wristband that would vibrate in response to sensed inertial motion. Again, it is not clear how this would resolve the discordance in sensory information between visual and proprioceptive receptors.
For the visual feedback of this prior approach, the display may consist of different shapes, size and colors that vary in some manner based on the inertial frame of reference. For instance, the color of a square could become darker or lighter depending on the sensed pitch. In addition, these elements could be displayed in columns or rows which could be made to appear to be moving with respect to a sensed motion. Once again, it is unclear how such a display would function or whether it would succeed in reducing motion sickness.
Another feedback approach consists of sensing the motion of an individual and then processing the signal to correspond to the actual motion that the vestibular system experiences. Based on these processed signals, an independent visual background (IVB) would be presented to the user. Generally, the independent visual background would consist of visual cues such as an array of vertical and horizontal lines. Since motion of the individual is be sensed, the device appears to be limited to simulators and virtual environments in stationary environments.
This prior approach envisions the user seeing an independent visual background superimposed upon the image. In the case of a virtual environment or non-moving simulator, the independent visual background would consist of a pattern of stationary lines. So while the scene may include motion, the visual cues that make up the independent visual background would correspond to the vestibular system and show no motion. It is well known in the field of virtual environments that less immersive environments tend to generate less motion sickness. By interrupting the scene with a clearly visible grid pattern superimposed upon the virtual sky or walls, the immersive effect of the virtual environment is curtailed, thus reducing the level of motion sickness.
The inverse of this would be when one is experiencing motion but the visual cues present none, such as when one is in the interior of the ship without windows. In this case, the independent visual background would be a pattern of lines that would move in such away as to correspond to the motion felt by the vestibular system. This independent visual background could be displayed via projector, head mounted display, or other method.
One drawback of this approach is that a grid of lines may be insufficient to cause the visual system to orient to the grid as opposed to the environment in the room. What the user will see will be a grid pattern moving along a wall. This is similar to the artificial labyrinth approach discussed earlier. In both cases, however, it seems unlikely that users will perceive the line patterns as representing a visual environment with which to orient themselves. If the presented visual stimuli do not “draw the user in,” then efficacy is in question.
Another potential drawback of this prior approach is that these cues could interfere with whatever tasks one is performing. This would especially be true for the independent visual background, which overlays a grid of lines on what is visually perceived.
Thus, while much work has been done in the past, no one has yet developed a truly effective display-based technology for reducing, eliminating or alleviating motion sickness. Such technology would be very desirable for use in a wide range of applications including for example military vehicles, passenger vehicles, and stationary and moving simulation platforms.
The present invention solves these problems by providing a new kind of motion coupled visual environment that can be used to prevent, reduce and treat motion sickness. One preferred exemplary illustrative embodiment couples physically indicated motion of the inertial environment to motion of a visually presented scene. This coupling alleviates the discord of spatial information from the principal spatial senses such as visual, vestibular and other proprioceptive receptors.
One possible illustrative arrangement, for example, is to display the cockpit view of an aircraft moving over terrain on a computer display. This display is presented on a motion platform that is independent of the display such as a ship at sea, an automobile in motion or many other platforms. Inertial and other types of sensors record motion information, and aspects of this information are fed back into the computer display. For example, a sensed heave (vertical motion) may be shown as a slight pitch or a roll of ten degrees may be shown as a roll of two degrees. Various algorithms may be used to map motion into display information are possible. The user then simply views the display, which will prevent, reduce or at least delay onset of motion sickness for healthy individuals and will even relieve motion sickness for users that are already symptomatic.
A motion coupled visual environment reduces the incidence and severity of motion sickness as compared with exposure to an inertial environment alone. This reduction in motion sickness may be significant. One example illustrative implementation of a motion-coupled visual environment generator includes four components:
an inertial sensor,
a visual display,
software for processing the sensor information, and
software for modifying the visual display.
The exemplary illustrative arrangement works by sensing the inertial environment and relaying this information to an evocative visual scene. For example, one non-limiting example of an evocative scene is a ship moving over a textured water surface with a highly textured mountainous background surrounding the water. Many other scenes are possible. In example arrangements, the scene is modified to coincide fully or partially with the inertial environment, or the visual environment may map onto the inertial environment in a more complex manner. Coupling the visual and inertial environments with a one-to-one mapping of as little as 10% (where the visually represented pitch, for example, is only 10% the magnitude of the actual pitch) may still produce statistically significant beneficial results, although many other successful mapping schemes are possible. In addition, it is possible but not necessary to match the direction of all inertial motions. For example, presenting a visual heave and pitch is generally more effective than presenting a visual heave alone even though the inertial stimuli may include only heave motion.
Generally, we have found that a visual scene is most effective in alleviating or treating motion sickness if it serves to visually entrain the user. While cues may tell the user what is occurring in the inertial environment, they generally do not alleviate the discord perceived by the spatial senses. For example, the presence of an attitude indicator in the cockpit of an aircraft does not prevent a pilot from becoming motion sick. Simply knowing one's position relative to the Earth's frame of reference is generally insufficient information to recouple discordant visual and proprioceptive environments. The user preferably visually tracks stimuli that indicate some correspondence with the inertial frame of reference. Such a stimulus may be produced for example via a virtual scene such as a ship moving over the water; alternatively, it could simply be a window of text moving relative to the desktop or any other type of visual display.
In one preferred illustrative embodiment, the presented scene creates apparent motion. Since motion sickness is caused by the discordance between visual stimuli and inertial stimuli as sensed by proprioceptive receptors, among other causes, the visual scene is preferably sufficiently evocative to overcome the perceived discordance. In general, the more realistic and believable the visual scene, the more evocative it becomes, but there are exceptions to this general rule. Effective visual scenes are generally those that can impart a sense of motion to the viewer. Examples include a realistic scene such as those generated by a simulation or virtual environment, or a visual flow field such as that of a “star field” that is moving towards the user. Current technologies for presenting visual information include cathode ray tubes (CRT), flat panel displays, head mounted displays (HMDs), holographic displays and other technologies.
Motion coupled virtual environments can be placed on independent motion environments such as a car, ship, airplane or other motion platform. Motion sickness induction on these platforms is generally greatest when visual access to the inertial environment is limited either physically or perceptually. Physical restrictions could, for example, include a car at night, the rear of aircraft with no windows, or the bowels of a ship with no portals. Perceptual restrictions could include, for example, reading an electronic book in a car, watching a video in an aircraft, or operating an instrument aboard a ship. Here, the outside scene may be available, but the user's attention is diverted to operations within the interior.
Motion sickness can also occur even if the user has good visibility of the external environment and is not distracted from viewing it. Proprioceptive receptors are oftentimes poor at judging the true motion of the inertial environment. Thus, a visual scene that corresponds with the inertial environment may still disagree with the proprioceptive receptors. Another method for motion sickness to occur even with good visual contact with the environment is when the viewpoint is far removed from the most readily apparent visual cue. This may happen in an aircraft, for example; the aircraft may heave in the vertical direction by many feet at a rate that is highly evocative, and yet if the aircraft is at a great enough altitude, the visually presented scene can only barely be perceived to move. Another example would be of an aircraft moving over terrain at low altitude. Suppose a passenger is able to view the terrain through a portal in the floor. He or she would see the terrain moving past the portal at great speed, but the body of the passenger would feel at rest within the stable aircraft. This can create a dissonant visual and inertial environment and thus motion sickness. There are many more examples of this type. In all of these cases, it would be better for those within the motion environment to train their attention on an appropriate motion-coupled visual environment display or displays in order to relieve the onset of motion sickness.
A further preferred exemplary embodiment provides a method for alleviating motion sickness caused by a motion environment and by a visual environment operating within an uncoupled inertial environment, such as one would find with a training simulator used aboard a ship and in many other situations. In one exemplary instantiation, through the use of inertial sensors and visual scene data, the visually presented motion and the physically indicated motion of the individual is sensed. These signals are then processed and conditioned to better correlate with the proprioceptive senses, and an evocative environment is presented to the individual that harmonizes the visual and proprioceptive senses associated with motion.
Example non-limiting advantageous features and advantages provided by an illustrative exemplary embodiment include:    senses the inertial environment and couples selected aspects of this environment into an evocative visual scene that, when viewed, reduces the onset and severity of motion sickness.    senses the inertial environment and couples selected aspects of this environment into an evocative visual scene that, when viewed, treats motion sickness by reducing the discordance between the visual and inertial environments.    may be used with a virtual environment or simulation whose primary purpose is not the reduction of motion sickness. In this case, the arrangement senses the inertial environment and couples selected aspects of this environment into the visual scene within the virtual environment or simulation that, when viewed, reduces the onset and severity of motion sickness, simulator sickness, cybersickness or any combination of these and other related illnesses.    may be used with a display of video information such as a radar screen display, a commercial television display, a window of text such as in a work processor or electronic book, static or motion graphics or any other type of electronic display and information that may be shown on such a display. In this case, the arrangement senses the inertial environment and couples selected aspects of this environment to move either the entire display image or some window within the display such that, when viewed, it reduces the onset and severity of motion sickness.    may be calibrated to match inaccurate tendencies in a subject's proprioceptive receptors using motion tests prior to use, thus making it even more effective in reducing or alleviating motion sickness.    may permit the user to calibrate on-the-fly the degree and extent of coupling between the sensed inertial environment and the presented visual environment, thus increasing is effectiveness in reducing or alleviating motion sickness.    will permit physiological and other data from the user to be recorded that give independent indications of motion sickness, and these data will be used to calibrate the degree and extent of coupling between the inertial environment and presented visual scene, thus increasing the device's effectiveness in reducing or alleviating motion sickness.